Quintett Leads Net Mundial Initiative (NMI): New Steam for an Enabling Multistakeholder Platform

At June 30, 2015 the Inaugural Meeting of the Coordination Council of the NetMundial Initiative (NMI.CC) elected a "Quintett" to guide its activities through the global Internet Governance Ecosystem. Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma from China, ICANN's President Fadi Chehade, Brazilian's Minister Virgilio Almeida and two woman: Eileen Donahou from Human Rights Watch (HRW)) and Marilia Maciel from the Center of Technology and Society (CTS) in Rio de Janeiro are sharing now the helm to bring more steam to this new innovative multistakeholder platform. more

New gTLDs and Concept of a Universal Directory

The concept of a universal directory does not exist on the Internet. There are thousands of directories of all kinds and online Yellow Pages in many countries. All of these websites are different, accessed differently and operated differently: for example, Yellow Pages in France are different from their equivalent in Spain and Italy. There is no standard directory operated behind the same name worldwide. more

A Look Back at the Pandemic and What Was Missed in the ISPs’ Broadband Performance Reports

I was looking back at industry reporting a year ago after the impact of the pandemic first hit our broadband networks. Almost every big ISP issued press releases talking about how well it had weathered the pandemic and bragged about the resiliency of its networks. It turns out that these ISP press releases largely missed the point. They are right that their networks didn't crash, but once we understood the nature of the changes in broadband traffic due to the pandemic, that wasn't a big surprise. more

ARIN Elects First Board Member from the Caribbean

Regenie Fräser, the former Secretary General of a regional trade association, has been selected to serve a one-year term on the board of trustees of the American Registry of Internet Numbers (ARIN). Fraser's appointment makes her the first person from the Caribbean and the first non-white person to serve on the ARIN board. ARIN is one of five registries worldwide that coordinate Internet number resources. more

Speculation and Investment in Domain Names

There has been an ongoing debate on domain name blogs about the relationship between investment and speculation, but there has been no attempt to clarify and reconcile different views. In this essay, I shed some light on the relationship and analyze the implied value creation of transactions in the secondary markets. more

2017 North American IPv6 Summit to Be Held at LinkedIn Headquarters

??The collective North American IPv6 Task Forces announced the 2017 North American IPv6 Summit will be held at LinkedIn headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA. more

Who Are the Major New gTLD Applicants and… (Part Three: Minds + Machines)

Minds + Machines was the first "new gTLD portfolio applicant" I spotted early in 2008, when .PARIS started being mentioned. Then came a few other projects like .HORSE and later .VODKA. Being French, my vision of good new gTLD suffixes may be slightly different to those native English speakers. Therefore, I favour some TLDs such as .SURF and .ART over some clearly English terms others such as .HORSE. more

European Data Regulators Throw ICANN Back to the Drawing Board for a Third Time on Whois Privacy

In a letter to ICANN, the chair of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) makes it plain that even the organization's "interim" plan is fundamentally flawed, reports Kieren McCarthy in the Register. more

Internet Governance: The Issue, The Myths, The Problems, The Solutions

I have written a short paper on the topic of Internet Governance. Since it includes a number of resources, it would be easier for me to just point to a link with the document itself. Below are some selected excerpts from the document. "Several myths have been spreading around the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), but especially after the first Internet Governance Forum (IGF): The critical Internet resources (CIR) consist only of the IP addresses and the domain name system... There are only 13 root servers..." more

Unexpected Behaviour Observed With DNS Root Servers After Cryptographic Change

The DNS root servers were reported by Verisign to be under unexpected attack from name servers across the Internet following ICANN's recent changes to their cryptographic master keys. more

Which Comes First, the Trademark or Domain?

For years, the question of exactly when to register a domain name has been one asked by legal departments, as they've sought to formalize their internal processes. If you were to think about it logically, it would make most sense to register it after the trademark had been cleared. After all, why bother to register a domain, if you aren't going to use it to support a product, service or campaign? more

Internet: Government Dominance or Governance?

In an age where the world has gone global in many forms and guises, the political attention is more and more focussed on national, populist issues, that arise from fear for the unknown. I can't deny it: the future undoubtedly contains many uncertainties. This usually comes with a general public that's afraid and in fear of things they cannot oversee. Thus it is easily aroused by a populist leader who feeds on this fear and throws flammable material on the already smouldering fire. In a time where leadership is called for, it seems lacking. The Internet governance discussion demands visionary leadership on a cross border level and it needs it soon. more

FBI, DHS Release Technical Details on North Korea’s DDoS Botnet Infrastructure

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI today released a technical alert based joint-effort analysis of methods behind North Korea’s cyberattacks. more

After Saying No in Dubai: What Next

What occurred in Dubai on 14 December was unprecedented in the history of the ITU. It was unprecedented in the history of international telecommunication law. Most of the major nations of the telecommunication world rejected a profoundly broken treaty instrument that had no reason to even exist. A large number of "minor" networking nations accepted the obligations of the treaty instrument, although almost all of them entered significant reservations. In the long history of telecommunication law and intergovernmental organizations since 1850, this has never occurred. more

Absolutely No Wireless Spectrum Shortage in 2010

Sure the iPhone has problems, but John Stankey of AT&T thinks restoring a $2B capex cut will fix them. It may take a little more money than that, but Glen Campbell of Merrill Lynch has confirmed he's on track. In a 50 page report that's one of the best I've read in years, Merrill destroyed the common belief that wireless has a significant spectrum shortage. more